Artificial-flower-making device.



PATENTED AUG. 8, 1905. J. LIEVAL.

ARTIFICIAL WER MAKIN VICE.

APPLIO FILED MAR; 10,

INVEN T0,}?

Jareyvfi ZzeaaZ ,4 TTOHNEYS.

EQmUwQ W N w R My m M Nu i NU v NU N w WITNESSES UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARTlFIClAL-FLOWER-IVIAKING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug.- 8, 1905.

Application filed March 10, 1905. Serial No. 249,349.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH LIFLvAL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Palisades, in the county of Rockland and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Artificial Flower -Making Devices, of which the following is a specification, such as will enable those skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to devices for making artificial flowers, and particularly the stamens thereof; and the object of the invention is to provide an improved holder or stick designed for use in holding the stamens and the process of manipulatingthe same, so as to form on the, end thereof the anther or head thereof.

The invention is fully disclosed in the following specification, of which the accompanying drawings form a part, in which the separate parts of my improvement are designated by suitable reference characters in each of the views, and in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of my stamen-holder; Fig. 2, a longitudinal section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 a cross-section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2.

In the practice of my invention I provide a stamen-holder, usually called a stick, and which comprises a top bar a and a bottom bar 6, and said bars may be made of any desired length. The adjacent faces of the bars a and I) are covered by a suitable compressible substance, preferably of textile material, as shown at a and b and the bar a is provided at regular intervals with oblong slots or openings a which are longitudinally arranged and which extend clear through said bar and three of which are shown in the drawings, and the top surface of said bar is provided at each of said openings with a corresponding metal plate Z2 having a slot or opening Z), and the slots or openings 6 in the plates 6 correspond with the slots or openings a in the bar a and register therewith. I also provide a plurality of bolts 0, which equal in number the slots or openings (0 in the bar a and which are passed through said slots or openings and through the bar 6 and are free to turn in said slots or openings and in the bar 6, and the ends of these bolts which pass through the slots or openings (4 are provided with heads 0 which in the construction shown are circular in form and consist of rings or eyes formed by bending the ends of said bolts; but these heads may be elliptical in form, if desired, or of any other form which will operate in connection with the bar a as a wedge in the opera tion of turning said bolts, as hereinafter de= scribed.

The bottom side of the bar I) is provided with metal plates 5 through which the bolts 0 are passed and in which said bolts are free to turn, and the ends of said bolts which pass through the plates If are each provided with a head 0 and a washer 0; but the Washers c are not absolutely necessary and may or may not be employed. The plates 6 are preferably made in the form of springs, as'shown at the middle of Fig. 2, and the ends thereof are passed through staple-shaped keepers (Z, and when the bars a and Z) have been connected by passing the heads 0 of the bolts 0 through the slots or openings (6 in the bar a the bars a and I) may be securely bound together by turn ing the bolts 0 by means of the heads 0 and in this operation a short lever device is passed through the heads 0 so as to turn said bolts. If the plates Z2 are not made in the form of spring-plates, as shown at the middle of Fig. 2, the bolts 0 will be made of such length that the turning of said bolts will cause the opposite sides of the boltsc to press on the plates 6'' sufficiently hard to bind the bars a and 6 together, and said bars a and b may be separated at any time by turning the bolts 0 into the position shown at the middle of Fig. 1, the locked posi tion of the bars being that in which the bolts 0 are turned into the position shown at the oppo: site ends of Fig. 2, both these positions being alsoshowninthesamemannerinFig.1. When the plates a are made in the form of springs, the bolts 0 will necessarily be a little longer than when springs are not employed, and as a rule I prefer that the said plates 6 be made to serve as springs, so that they will partially withdraw the bolts 0 when the said bolts are turned into the position shown at the middle of Figs. 1 and 2. V

In making the stamens of artificial flowers ordinary thread is usually employed and a number of the sticks or stamen-holders herein shown and described are also employed, and the thread is placed over the bottom bars 6, as shown at d in Fig. 1. This operation is performed by suitable machinery or in any desired manner, and the threads between the separate sticks or stamen-holders are cut, so that the ends of the stamens will be perfectly even, as shown at CF in Fig. 1. Before placing the stamens in the stamen-holders, as

above described, or before placing the thread on which the stamens are formed in said holders, the thread or stamens are saturated with a suitable substance which will give the thread the desired stiffness or rigidity necessary to hold the stamens of the flower in an upright or in any desired position, and in order to form on the ends of the stamen the anther or head the said ends of the stamens are inserted into a suitable pasty substance which adheres thereto and which is of the desired color, and this operation may be repeated until enough of the pasty substance adheres to the ends of the stamens to give the anther or head'the desired shapeand size.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that my invention relates only to the method of holding and manipulating the stamens in order to form thereon the anther or head, and for this purpose the stick or stamen-holder which constitutes the subjectmatter of this application is manipulated by hand, the pasty substance from which the anthers or heads of the stamens are formed being held in a suitable tank in the ordinary manner.

This device is simple in construction and operation and by means thereof an operator may produce a large number of completed stamens in a comparatively short space of time, and various changes in and modifications of the construction herein described may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention or sacrificing its advantages.

Having fully described my invention, whatI claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A stamen-holder for use in' making artificial.

flowers, comprising two similar bars, one of which is provided with longitudinal slots or openings and the other with bolts which are movable therethrough and provided with heads adapted to pass through said slots or openings, said heads having wedge-shaped under sides, and said bars being also provided lVitnesses:

F. STEWART, O. E. MULREANY. 

